When The Station Hotel was Premnay Hotel

Premnay was a parish in the district of Garioch (pronounced Geery) in Aberdeenshire. It encompassed parts of Insch including the railway station and The Station Hotel. The railway line at the time was known as the Great North of Scotland Railway.

As described in Frances Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, 1882-84 (1), Premnay also included the villages of Rothney and Auchleven.

The village of Auchleven tends to still be known locally as Premnay. The postcards here were kindly gifted by Mr Ian Crick of St Leonards-on-Sea whose step-grandfather was one Willie Reid whose mother, in turn, was a Mrs Brown who lived in Premnay. Unusually, The Station Hotel had a different name in these postcards and appears to have been known at one time as The Premnay Hotel.

The driver has climbed up into the cart and sits in front of the hotel. There are also a few children on the side staircase which no longer exists. Nor does the annexe on the left-hand side of the hotel on these cards.

(1) Taken from GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Premnay in Aberdeenshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time. URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/16383. Date accessed: 4th November 2025.